Tunbridge Wells has always been synonymous with middle-class stability and
elegance, with its history as a Georgian spa town and host to royal
visitors. Its reputation as the epitome of Middle England even inspired an
episode of Spitting Image in which a Tunbridge Wells separatist campaign was
portrayed under the slogan “Liberty, Equality, Gardening”.
But even in this prosperous town in west Kent, 40 miles from central London,
the effects of recession have become become apparent. Elizabeth Thomas, town
councillor with responsibility for planning and economic dev- elopment,
said: “People used to hand over £20 notes at the farmers' market; now they
are paying with change.
“The car park tickets are the same number but people aren't staying as long,”
she added. “People are improving their homes rather than moving. They are
managing the recession by pulling in their horns.”
But walking around the sun-dappled centre, there is scant evidence of
belt-tightening. The Pantiles, now an upmarket shopping area, where once
Beau Nash strutted his stuff as Master of Ceremonies in Georgian times, is
lined with artists and glass blowers plying their trades, and retirees
napping on the benches.
The town is celebrating the centenary of receiving the Royal Charter from King
Edward VII, whose mother, Queen Victoria, was a regular visitor. Tunbridge
Wells and Leamington Spa are the only towns to have been granted a Royal
Charter.
Home and lifestyle shops, such as Cath Kidston, which sells accessories,
alternate with jewellers and designer boutiques in the old High Street,
while Westfield's Royal Victoria Place shopping centre, opened by Diana,
Princess of Wales in 1992, dominates the centre of town.
“There's a lot of old money around here, and old money tends to be good at
hanging on to what it's got,” said Mark Law, a local businessman.
Meanwhile, a row of empty shops with boarded-up windows near the railway
station is part of a redevelopment of a former cinema site. The site owners
are on target for demolition to begin this month.
Council statistics show that about 6 per cent of the town centre's retail
space was empty in April, against 4.3 per cent a year earlier. However,
there are encouraging noises that the large space vacated by Woolworths
should be let to a new tenant soon.
Geoff Jones, manager of the Royal Victoria shopping centre, said that its
footfall was up on this time last year. “We thought in October or November
it would be a lot worse than this. People are definitely coming in but the
challenge is to get them buying,”
With 23 per cent of the working population employed in banking, finance and
insurance, the recession has hurt some townfolk. Although the jobless total
has risen this year, it has slowed in recent months. Between January and
February the number out of work rose by 21.62 per cent - the largest monthly
climb since April 2007 - but in April the increase was 3.6 per cent, the
smallest rise since September 2008. The rate of overall unemployment in the
borough is 2.3 per cent.
But this masks a discrepancy between the more upmarket areas, where
unemployment is closer to 1 per cent, and more deprived parts, such as
Sherwood, where it stands at 3.7 per cent. Ms Thomas said: “There are
pockets of deprivation but we are trying to support them by building new
community centres. While our unemployment is better than much of Kent, it's
still more than Surrey, so that's what we've got to aspire to.”
Hospice in the Weald, a local charity, said that donations were down by as
much as 25 per cent on last year and income from trusts and foundations,
legacies and investments had shrunk.
The construction of 58 affordable houses at the former Medway depot has been
put on hold by Fairview New Homes, the developer, which blamed the housing
downturn.
A substantial proportion of the population commutes to work in the financial
services industry or other professional services jobs, such as law and
accounting, in London - all of which have been hit by job losses in the past
18 months.
Morrison Ellis of TransMedia Link, a transcription and translation service,
said: “Some of my friends in finance are suffering and have lost their jobs.”
Yet the picture for house prices may be improving. After plummeting to
£3,667.34 in October 2008, land charge fee income - a measure of how many
people are buying property - rose to £20,221 in April, back to the levels of
May 2008.
Kim Stephenson, manager at Bracketts estate agency, said: “I think the
situation is better than in many towns. We're certainly doing better than
some of the national statistics.”
A veteran of 15 years of working in property in the town, he added: “We have
got a market where there are a lot more apartments, mainly around the town
centre, than are needed. Some people have bought them as an alternative to a
pension - because pension returns were performing so badly - and now there
are probably more than we need, so prices for flats have dropped by a larger
percentage than house prices.
“The market for houses is a lot better. Some of the properties we have got on
the market seem to have gone very quickly. One £600,000 house, built in the
1960s, had two offers within a week,” he continued. “A lot of people come to
Tunbridge Wells because of the grammar school system, and that is always
there. After a pause, we have now got buyers moving out of London again.” He
says house prices have fallen about 15 per cent since their peak in 2007,
but are starting to recover.
Big employers include Axa, the insurance company, which employs about 1,400
people in the town, and Cripps Harries Hall, the solicitor, which employs
close to 200. There is little local manufacturing industry.
The town is hoping for a bumper tourist season this year as more people
holiday in England. It attracts mainly day trippers at the moment, but there
are high hopes for a new luxury hotel development in a “Tudor revival”
country mansion called Mabledon near the town.
Tunbridge Wells will also benefit from widening a stretch of the A21, which
should start in September and finish in 2012. The roadworks will improve
access to neighbouring towns, London and the south coast. Building had been
delayed because it is within the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural
Beauty.
Greg Clark, MP for Tunbridge Wells, said: “At last, the countdown to these
urgently needed improvements can begin. “The dualling of the A21 will
provide vital access to the new Pembury Hospital, which will open in 2011,
and local people and businesses are simply fed up with wasting time in
traffic jams and congestion.”
So “Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells” can probably sit in his rocking chair and
leave his pen on the writing desk for now, as his town gently eases its way
out of the recession that has left it relatively unscathed.
Swine flu becomes a blessing in disguise
Company report:TransMedia Link
Some sectors are relatively recession-proof. TransMedia Link, which prints
braille and produces CDs for blind, partially sighted and deaf people, is
suffering slightly.
One of its main sources of business is printing company annual reports where
“reasonable” efforts are required to have been made to ensure that
poor-sighted shareholders can read them. Banks and telephone companies that
need to send statements to blind clients also use the company. As the
recession started, some businesses, such as Wolseley, the property company,
chose to wait to see if any of their shareholders requested a braille set of
accounts rather than have a set printed automatically.
Then the company struck gold from an unexpected source - swine flu. Morrison
Ellis, general manager of the company, explained: “We won the contract from
the Government to print leaflets about the disease for the 28,000 registered
braille readers in the UK.”
He is also hoping to benefit from increased regulatory requirements at banks,
which will have to send their blind and partially sighted customers copies
of new regula- tions in braille or large print. He added: “There was a bit
of a downturn but I think we've proved that we are very stable. Business has
grown in the past six months.”
The business was set up ten years ago by a former worker at the National
Talking Newspaper Association. It now employs 15 people. The main threat to
the business's long-term future is from the potential development of better
audio software for computers, which could lead to less demand for its
products.
Shop struggling to earn a crust
Company report: Tunbridge Wells Sandwich Company
The Tunbridge Wells Sandwich Company, just off a busy shopping street in the
town centre, has become a victim of the consumer spending downturn.
“People watch some money expert on Richard & Judy or whatever and
that's the first thing they tell you to do: bring your own lunch to work,”
Mark Law, the sandwich shop owner, lamented.
On a Monday lunchtime, trade is slow. Two employees - Mr Law had to let two
others go this year - behind the counter are far from rushed off their feet.
“It started between ten months to a year ago,” Mr Law said. “If you lose four
or five people coming in every day then it all adds up when you have margins
like ours.” Since then, takings have almost halved in the shop.
Competitors have also opened up recently, just as the number of people buying
their lunch every day declines.
Recently, Mr Law started delivering sandwiches to local businesses as a way of
boosting trade. He used to employ someone to make the deliveries, but has
had to start doing it himself to cut down on his overheads.
Mr Law founded his first sandwich shop five years ago, after an earlier career
at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
At one stage, he owned three outlets, but has recently sold one shop in
Brighton. He employs another two people in a Crowborough branch.
After a Business Link business review, Mr Law is applying for an energy-saving
grant to try to mitigate the effects of increased electricity bills.
The price of bread and other staple ingredients has also gone up, putting
further pressure on margins. He added: “You can't put up prices every time
there is a change because they would be changing every couple of months.
“I just don't know how long it's going to go on for.”
